A few weeks ago I observed a very small and bright open cluster on the edge of the Heart Nebula in Cassiopeia, Markarian 6. The cluster looks more like a small asterism than a real open cluster, as you can see on the sketch below. Follow this link to my other website, starobserver.eu, for the complete observing report, finderchart, and a beautiful image of the heart-nebula by Dominique Suys (thanks Dominique for granting me permission to use your image for my report!)

At the end of 2010 I added three new objects to my StarObserver website. The two open clusters: NGC 129 and Stephenson 1 and a very interesting triple star, 40 Eridani. Just click on the links to have a look at some very interesting facts and stories on these fascinating objects.

Last week I made my first ever sketch of an OB Association, Orion OB1b, also know as Collinder 70, or just as The Belt of Orion. This large group of stars is a perfect binoculars. It is centred on the three bright belt-stars of Orion, and offers stunning views. I observed them with my 8x42 (8.2 degrees FOV), 12x60 (5.6 degrees FOV) and the 15x80 (3.5 degrees FOV). In the end I used the SkyWindow and my 15x80 to make this sketch. In time an article about this wonderfull object will be added to my website Starobserver.eu, but for now, here’s the sketch to enjoy.

In the first week of October I visited the Dordogne together with two other deepsky observers, Jo and Angelo. We rented a holiday home from Ad Mathijs from Astro Techniek. We were very lucky with the weather during this week. In the daytime it was almost every day between the 20 and 25 degrees, and the nights were very mild and......... clear! 5 nights out of seven on which we were able to observe. We had two big telescopes with us. Angelo took his 10-inch Meade and Jo had his 12-inch Orion Optics UK telescope for the deepsky and the Coronado PST for solar observations. I used the 14-inch telescope that comes with the holiday home. We also had a range of binoculars with us, an 8x42, 12x60, 12x80, and 15x80. Al could be mounted on the SkyWindow.

Observing
On the five nights we observed more than 100 deepsky objects, but also Jupiter and Uranus. For me, the most beautiful object was the Milky Way. At home I cannot see it, but during the week in France I had enough time to really enjoy it and scan it with different types of binoculars. The sky was clear and it was dark, not extremely dark as in the Alps, but very dark when compared to my own backyard. I was able to pick out Barnard 142/143 (Barnards E) in Aquila just with the 8x42.

My top 10 from this week:

1. The milky way
2. The Helix Nebula (which I never had seen before), about the size of the moon, with 4 stars, including the central star, visible in the nebula;
3. The parts of the Veil nebula, simply stunning;
4. The north America nebula
5. The white and red dwarf star in 40 Eridani
6. The deep orange variable TX Pisces
7. NGC 129 (open cluster in Cassiopeia
8. Uranus
9. Comet Hartley near the double cluster
10. Alpha Persei Moving cluster through the 8x 42 binoculars, mounted on the SkyWindow

Here are a few images which Angelo shot with his Canon, just from a tripod (Click to enlarge)

Circlet of Pisces with the orange TX Pisces to its left and Jupiter / Uranus below the Circlet

On Saturday the 16th of October I visited the 100-meter radio telescope from the Max-Planck-Institute in Effelsberg, Germany. With this giant telescope it is possible to map large parts of the night sky in different wavelengths. Objects in our own galaxy, but also other nearby galaxies can be studied.

What I found very impressive was the speed with which this giant disc can be turned into different directions. The 100-meter large disc is simply impressive to see! Here are a few images of the telescope. Just click on them to enlarge.

On september 12th around 18.30 hours local time I saw two really beautiful Sundogs from my backyard. On could be seen between two neighbouring houses, the other right over another neighbour's house. Here are a few shots I shot with my compact camera.

Almost three years I have been observing with my 12-inch Dobson from Orion Optics UK. I love to work with the Dobson. The setup goes very quickly (five minutes) and I'm ready to observe. I also like the fact that you can push the tube to any direction when starhopping, without having to use electronics. However, about one and a half year ago I took up sketching again, and very soon I noticed a big difference with my old telescope I used for sketching, an 8-inch Cassegrain mounted on an EQ-6. When using this set-up for sketching, the object stood perfectly still in the field of view, at any magnification.

With the Dobson however, at medium to high powers, the constant pushing of the tube to centre and re-centre the object during the process of sketching became annoying. But then again, I loved the views of my 12-inch Dobson compared to the 8-inch Cassegrain.

The conclusion was that, if I want to keep up the sketching, I had to by a new, larger telescope for my EQ6, because the 12-inch f5.3 is way to large for this mount. But then, why buy another telescope when I already got this high quality, large instrument. I started looking around for other options, and equatorial platform seemed to be the perfect solution. The platform would enable me to operate the Dobson just as I was used to, shoving the tube around (including the Argo Navis computer). I found only two or three companies that build equatorial platforms commercially, two in Europe and one in the US.

After doing some research I decided for a platform from Tom Osypowski's company, called "Equatorial Platforms". Tom has been producing these platforms for many years and, for me personally, experience and positive comments of many satisfied customers count more than the price. I ordered a standard platform with dual axis drive and a wireless remote control.

About three weeks ago my Equatorial Platform from Tom Osypowski arrived and I have to be honest, the platform looks very well built and the quality of all the components seems to be very high.

First light
On Sunday the 25th of July my astronomy club organised a field trip to observe the Moon together. Around 20.30 hours we would meet and set up our telescopes in a field just 15 miles from my home. At six o'clock I packed the car, and I noticed that the platform is easy to transport. It doesn't use any extra space. I put it on top of my large eyepiece and equipment case.

Once I arrived at the location, the setup was a piece of cake. I oriented the platform to the North using my small compass I have always with me. Then I levelled the platform out using the four adjustable feet and the bubble level. After that I put the rocker-box on the platform, dropped the tube into the rocker-box and connected the platform to a 12volt lead-acid battery. I was ready to go. I pulled the platform into starting position and started the drive. The whole process of setting up only took 8 minutes.

Venus and moon
The first object I centred into the eyepiece was Venus. I immediately noticed the difference using the platform. First of all, Venus was very easy to centre in the eyepiece, using the push buttons on the hand control, even at 460x, and..... once in the centre of the eyepiece, the little crescent of Venus stayed put. No vibrations or movement. What a different experience of observing.

The next object was the Moon. I set the platform for lunar speed. With the binoviewer and the 25mm Plossls the Moon was simply unbelievable. The detail I could see, just because the object wasn't moving through the field of view, but standing perfectly still. Well I cannot imagine observing the Moon with anything else than this setup in the future.

After 1 hour and 40 minutes the platform reached the end of its run, and I had to reset it. This is done simply by switching of the platform, pull the platform back to its starting position, and start it again.

M 11, M 57, M13
After resetting the platform I decided on a quick tour of a few Messier objects. I set the platform for sidereal speed and starhopped to M11, M57 and M13. Again, I was so pleased to view these objects with all possible magnifications, without shoving the tube and re-centering the objects in the eyepiece. M13 with the binoviewer was unbelievable. I think that because of the platform, and the image looking almost frozen, I gain a magnitude. After this first session I could only come to the conclusion that this platform created a completely new observing experience, and I cannot wait to start sketching!

On the 13th of June 2010 I shot a few movies of the solar prominences visible through the PST. The image below was created from a stack of 150 images selected from a total of 1500 images (25 seconds of movie at a rate of 60 images per second). The image was stacked and processed using ASTRO II DC.

Just before I went to bed tonight, I saw this beautiful crescent moon over my neighbour's roof. To the right of the Moon, right above the tree, I saw Venus. I got out my old Coolpix 4500 on a tripod and shot this black and white image.